2 Samuel 6. I'll read the whole chapter tonight. Again, this is God's Holy Word. Again, David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30,000, and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal, Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God. His name is called by the name the Lord of hosts who dwells between the cherubim So they set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio the sons of Abinadab drove the new cart and they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was on the hill accompanying the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of firwood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cistrums, and on cymbals. When they came to nation's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. The anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah. And God struck him there for his error. And he died there by the ark of God. And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. And he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David. David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. Now it was told King David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with gladness. So it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and rolling before the Lord. And she despised him in her heart. So they brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. When David had finished offering bird offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house. Then David returned to bless his household. And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David. and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. So David said to Michael, it was before the Lord who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord, and I will be even more undignified than this. I will be humble in my own sight, but as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor. Therefore Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death. Amen. One of the benefits of buying Will's coupon book that he distributed recently to some of the members of the church, is that there's a coupon in there to Mickey's Yogurt in Clovis off Shaw Avenue. And since that time, my family has really looked forward to going to Mickey's Yogurt. There's numerous reasons for that. We can pick whatever we want. Kids go in there, they have all kinds of yogurt, even the dairy-free yogurt, if that's important to you. And you can get what you want. You can get chocolate, you can get candy, all kinds of things. People are very nice there. They just have smiles on their face. They take our coupons. Appreciate that. They wipe up the table when we're done. It's a time that we look forward to as a family. This is kind of something that we do on Friday night typically. I share that with you because there's actually a number of parallels with successfully or properly running a yogurt shop and divine worship. There's several parallels. There's someone who gets exactly what they want. It's a time that's looked forward to, that's anticipated. There's something to be received that's a joy. And these are all principles that we find in this chapter. Imagine if you went to Mickey's Yogurt and they told you what you were gonna have. I've kind of ruined it a little bit. What if they were rude? What if they were not helpful? It wouldn't be very successful. It's the same way with worship. If we don't understand how to properly do it, we're not going to succeed. It's not going to be as God-honoring. It's not going to be as beneficial. I want us to think about worship, not just because this chapter is centered around it, but because it's something that we do every Sunday. At least that often, every Sunday, something we do a lot. We need to understand some of the key principles. I want to bring out four principles of worship from this chapter. The main lesson is when God's worship is given a primary place and it's regulated to scripture and joyfully conducted, then blessings follow. That's the lesson. When God's worship is given a primary place, and is regulated to Scripture, and joyfully conducted, then blessings follow. Look with me, verses 1 through 8. Of all the four points, I have four points that I want to bring out. This is the one point I'll spend the most time on. I want you to see the first principle of worship. Worship is regulated to scripture. Now there's a lot of excitement when David goes down to Baal Judah. There's a lot of excitement. There's a lot of people, 30,000, and they're not just anybody. They are the choice men of Israel. The choice people. There are important people. A parallel account in 1 Chronicles. There are Levites. There are leaders. There are tribal leaders, family leaders and such. There is a big fanfare. Now, Bel-Judah is Kerjath-Jerim. We know that from other places in Scripture. It is really not an important city at all. It is kind of a side off the interstate, if you will. Not really all that important. Which really excites the situation. A lot of people gather in some strange place. It is kind of interesting. There is a lot of fanfare. Verse 5. David has got all types of musical instruments. He's got instruments of firwood, harps, string instruments, tambourines, cistrums, and cymbals. David, and we read in 1 Chronicles 15, he had established this as a part of God's worship in the Old Testament ceremonial system. And so this is something that was authorized and regulated. Tonight I want to deal with scripture as it is. We see a lot going on in this chapter that's kind of interesting. This is one of them. We are those who don't use instruments in worship. And we don't because of their connection with the ceremonies of the Old Testament. I don't know of a single church, Christian church, that has a sacrifice in worship. true Christian Church. And the reason for that is Christ fulfilled the whole sacrificial system. And with that everything that went with it, including the instruments which were tied to that ceremonial system. But there's fanfare, there's excitement. But despite this fanfare and excitement, despite the good intentions, despite the skill that would have gone into this, all these Levites, all these instruments, something bad happened. Uzzah and his brother, they're driving the new cart and the oxen stumbles and Uzzah is killed. He's killed by God. God strikes him. David calls the place Perez Uzzah, which if you have your note there in the New King James, literally outbursts against Uzzah. There is a death here. God I'm going to come back to this. God said this would happen in Numbers 4.15. He says that those who are to carry the ark, they aren't to look into it or touch it lest they die. Is this making you uncomfortable? I try to remind my children, so they can see the glory of Jesus, that the wages of sin is death. This is a place where we see that. God in His providence doesn't always give people death when they sin. The Philistines were doing all kinds of things with the Ark and 1 Samuel. In His providence and His mercy He didn't kill them. But we see a lesson here. Same thing with Ananias and Sapphira. God is just in killing sinners, judging them, because they're sinners. We see that here. The wages of sin is death. Now why did Uzziah die? Well, There's a certain sense in which we look at the law and say, well God said that if you actually touched it, then you'd die. But that's not the reason that David gives it in another account. He says in 1 Chronicles 15 verses 12 and 13, I'll read it to you. That verse says, He said to them, you are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren. that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult him about the proper order." This is the lesson here I want you to see. There is a hint of it here. In verse 7, God struck him there for his error. Not real sure exactly what that word means, but again David in another place, commenting on this, tells us that because this act of worship was not regulated to God's Word, to Scripture, it was not done according to the proper manner, Uzzah died. What did they not do? Well, a couple of things. Uzzah is not a Levite. Uzzah is from the tribe of Judah. 1 Chronicles 15 says, "...and the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders by its poles as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord." So later on in this chapter there is a second attempt to take the ark of God to Jerusalem and it is done the right way. The Levites are not driving it on a new cart, they are bearing it on their shoulders on new poles. There's no reference here to covering the arc. Numbers 411 refers to how the arc was to be covered by a badger scan, some kind of covering. There's several things that are not done properly. And this is why Uza died. This is why this happened. This is why in the midst of all the fanfare, someone had to call 911. Uza's dead. I want you to think about it for a moment. One of the things that this teaches us is, it teaches us to be aware of adopting methods of worship that we see practiced in other places. It even makes sense to us. Where do they get the idea of a new cart? Driving the ark on a new cart? It's exactly what the Philistines did. When they had the ark, many chapters ago in 1st Samuel. They saw, oh, that makes sense. After all, it's a new cart. It's not an old cart. It kind of makes sense, doesn't it? It's not according to Scripture. Everything we do in worship is appointed by God specifically. This is in the New Testament as well. Jesus says in John 4, 23 through 24, referring to New Testament worship. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him." Think about that. The Father is seeking a certain type of worship. Verse 24, Jesus goes on and says, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." Worship in spirit, not just going through the motions, but also according to the manner in truth. God can make an ordinance of worship, but you cannot make for yourself a carved image, a way of worshiping God. If you recall, that is the second commandment. This is where this is all coming from. I want you to adopt a, I want you to understand this really is what I'm getting at. But think about it this way. Adopt this approach to worship. Think about the phrase that is in its own right true. Innocent until proven guilty. Okay, that's a good principle in another setting. Someone brings up an idea of worship. It's not innocent until proven guilty. It's guilty until it's proven to be according to God's Word. That's what we learn here. Or if you like, Isaiah says to God's people, as a faithful preacher of the Old Testament, expounding on the law, Isaiah says, when you come to appear before me, this is, he's quoting the Lord. The Lord speaking to his people. When you come to appear before me, okay, come to my house to worship me. When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? That's the disposition we have. Who has required this act of worship? Has God required it? Worship is regulated to scripture and I've said that I will spend most of my time on the first point. These next three points will be quicker. What else did we learn? from this passage. Verses 9 through 11. We learn that there is a blessing to be received. Worship is a blessing. It's a great blessing. David is a little bit afraid. He doesn't have a right knowledge of worship, so he doesn't bring the ark of God in the right way in that moment. He turns it aside to Obed-Edom the Gittite. Obed-Edom, the Gittite. We learn again from another place in Scripture, a parallel passage, that Obed-Edom is actually a Levite. He is a Gittite, not in the sense that he is from Gath, that city in Philistia, but from Gath-Rimen, another place in Israel. He is a Levite. They are the ones that are supposed to have the Ark. Last time a Philistine had the Ark, bad things happened. Very bad things happened. Here a Levite has it, and what happens? The ark remains in his house and he is blessed. The Lord blessed Obed-Edom. In verse 12, David hears that he has blessed his whole house. Now I want you to see that worship, when God's people today come together, there is a formal worship service. God is present, and by His presence He blesses His people. Now how is this text prove that? Well again, the Ark. What is the Ark a token of? The Ark is a token of God's presence, even in this text. In verse 2, "...to bring up from there the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the Cherubim." The Cherubim were on the Ark, two angels, mighty warrior angels. He dwells there. There is a sense in which God dwelt in the tabernacle of the temple, and specifically by way of the Ark. And there is a blessing there. God sanctifies His people. We see that clearly here. That happens now too. You are blessed when you hear the preaching of the Word. You are blessed when you hear the Word sung to you, read to you. God sanctifies His people by the Word. through that means. Think about the benediction. That's a Latin word, which means good or well, and words spoken well. There's a blessing, if you just like the word blessing. That's what the benediction is. It's a real blessing. God instituted in the Old Covenant, number six. We see it continue in the New Testament. Here's a comment on the benediction. Just one element of worship that clearly conveys the idea of blessing. When the peace of God that passeth all understanding, or the blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost are invoked over your heads, is it to assure you, it is to assure you that if you will but accept of them through Jesus Christ, these great blessings are actually yours. They're actually yours. When you believe them by faith, They're actually yours. One of the reasons why I mention that is David gives a benediction in this chapter. In verse 18, he blesses the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. I'll come back to that in a moment. The second principle is a blessing. Do you... First, did you know that? There's a real blessing. There's a desire. There's something to be received in worship. You grow in your knowledge. You're convicted of sin. You see Christ, and you have the strength by His Spirit to follow Him more and more. It was a blessing to be had in worship. What else did we learn about worship in this chapter? Verses 12 through 19. We learn that worship is to be joyfully conducted. joyfully conducted. Now in this section verses 12 through 19, which is the second attempt to bring the Ark of God to Jerusalem, what we actually see is a combination of it being regulated rightly and with the enthusiasm and the joy and the fanfare that we saw originally. That's really what you need to have in worship. Both joy and excitement, probably something that as Presbyterians we could probably row in maybe, but also the right regulation. Now I'm going to emphasize the joy here, but notice the proper regulation of worship. Verse 13, so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord, They were Levites bearing on poles, no longer driving the cart, but bearing the ark of the Lord. There were sacrifices which were certainly appointed to be done for the previous sins most likely. We have an Old Testament worship service in verse 17. So they brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it." This tabernacle was not the tabernacle of Moses. We learned from other places that it actually was in Shiloh. But this was, we should assume, that David in all his functions as a prophet and revealing ordinances of God, revealing to him ordinances of worship that he had commanded this to take place. And there's a worship service, an Old Testament worship service. David offered burnt offerings, the first thing. Then he offered peace offerings. He gave the benediction. He blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And that was the worship service. And as part of the joy Verses 19 describes a feast. He distributed food and this isn't a welfare system. This is a one-time event that really goes to show the joy and the excitement of the ark for the first time coming into the place that God had appointed. But notice the joy specifically in the verse 12. David did this with gladness. Verse 14, then David danced before the Lord with all his might He danced, verse 16, which I'll come back to. Michael saw him leaping and twirling, or dancing, before the Lord. There's excitement, there's joy. This is something I'll come back to. You know, the dancing. What do you do with the dancing? Right? I mean, this is a worship service. Old Testament. Worship. Is it not? I mean, he's dancing. What are we going to do? Well, it's the same thing with instruments. It's tied to the procession of the ark into the city. I'm not so much emphasizing the procession as much as I'm emphasizing the ark. You'll notice the dancing, if you will, the excitement, the joy of David begins with the procession, verse 14. And verse 16, he comes into the city, Michael sees him dancing and twirling around, if you will. But once the art comes into this tabernacle that David makes, then he stops dancing. It's back to the other ordinances of worship. And so just as the instruments passed with the ceremonial system, so is the dancing that we see in the Old Testament. Now, however, dancing. I want you to think about, listen, I remember going to a church, a good church. It was a good sermon. This is a church I went to in Savannah while I was in the army years ago. And there was dancing in that worship service. This happens in lots of churches. I want you to think about it. Especially because in Psalm 149, I don't know if you've ever felt awkward singing Psalm 149. You can turn there if you'd like. We're praising the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker. Verse 3, let them praise His name with the dance. Are we ignoring that verse? Let them sing praise to Him with the timbrel and harp. How do we understand this? It's a little different. The way we understand this is we need to realize that in Psalm 149, the psalmist is going in and out of worship. He's going in and out of a stated worship place, if you will. Notice that in verse 5, he says, let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud on their beds. Are we supposed to bring beds in here and sing aloud on them? It's kind of silly, but he's going in and out. We can praise God in worship when we sing the Psalms. Certainly we can also praise God at work. By work. In a different sense. Who ever raised a two-edged sword in their hand? Verse 6. As if we're all supposed to be doing that in worship. I want you to think about these things. Not because I think that any of you are... jockeying to get dance into our worship, but we need to deal with the Scriptures. I'm not worth, I shouldn't be behind this pulpit if I can't explain the Scriptures. Worship, all the elements of worship are tied to the Word. Most people, even there's people in the Reformed community. Tim Keller, he believes in dance and worship. The way he does that is he says it's a form of preaching. which is its first problem. Preaching is the verbal proclamation of the ordained man. It's verbal proclamation. That's how God sanctifies us. All the elements of worship are tied to God's Word. We sing God's Word. We read God's Word. I preach God's Word. The blessings, God's Word. Prayers according to God's Word. So dance is not something we should be doing, but joy. Let's get back to joy. Do you worship God with joy? Do you look forward to it? Is it exciting to you? Psalm 211, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Rejoice with trembling. Three words, that's what worship is. It's rejoicing with trembling. Having an awe for God. Worshiping according to His manner. Rejoicing. Rejoicing in His presence. Kids, children, when your parents tell you we're going to go worship, do you get excited about it? Is it just so you see your friends? Or do you get excited about it? The coming into God's presence. I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Let us go to the house of the Lord. Is this your posture with worship? I don't want you to think that God wants you to necessarily be raising your hands and shouting during worship as if that's what you need to do to express joy and excitement. I'm talking about an inward reality. Do you worship God joyfully? Let's look at verses 20 through 23. What else did we learn? We'll also look at verse 16. What else did we learn about worship? And the idea here is that worship is to have a primary place in a Christian's life. I'm not necessarily talking about the Sabbath day, the commandment to worship, but just a mindset. We see a comparison between Michael and David. We see a heart, the heart of a true worshiper in David. That Michael doesn't have. It shows to us that worship is to have a primary place. The worship of God is to have a primary place in our heart, in our life. Well, how do I get to that? Well, Michael's not real excited about the worship of God. The ark of God coming into the city. She doesn't get excited about it. It's important to note that three times she's introduced or she's described as Saul's daughter. Why isn't she described as Pius Jonathan's sister? Why isn't she described as David's wife? Because she's Saul's daughter and she's like Saul. She's like Saul. She didn't... Saul wanted to be the Lord and be the master and the king. Saul didn't have a concern for the worship of God. He didn't have a concern for that. The Ark of God has been in Kerjath's dream for a long time. We don't know exactly how long. Most commentators say 60 years. He wasn't concerned about the Lord. He was more concerned about himself. What is Michael mad about? She is sarcastic here. We should not think that David was... inappropriate in the way he danced or was clothed. She is being sarcastic. She is upset at David because David... took off his royal robes and put on a linen ephod. Again, another account... we learned that David put on a linen robe. He put off his royal robes. Think about that. The Lord came, opened up the gates... Let the king come in. You see David stepping down, taking off his royal robes, putting on priestly robes. And she's upset about that. You're supposed to have the premier place. You mingled with commoners. You danced with the commoners. How shameful. You would humble yourself like that. Again, primary place. Michael, worship of God didn't have a primary place, but David understood. The importance of God's worship, the importance of God, the importance of His honor and His praise. Again, just verse 1 of chapter 6. David's concerned about the ark and the worship of God. He demonstrates that. He says to her, verse 21, it was before the Lord. See, he's focused on the Lord. It was before the Lord. I was doing this to magnify the Lord. He's the King. I'm under Him. He's the king. I played music before the Lord. I will be even more undignified than this. I'll humble myself even more if it means that the Lord is going to be glorified. You see? You see the thing? Worship, the praise of God, the honor of God is a primary place in David's heart. Verse 23, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death. I don't think, we should not think that barrenness is a sign of curse. That woman is somehow in sin or something. We shouldn't do that. Here though, it's hard not to see through Revelation verse 23. That this is not a divine curse upon Michael. We don't know for certain. Perhaps David didn't have relations with her. But it's hard not to see this curse. upon Michael. Worship is to have a primary place in a Christian's life. Gordon Keddy, one of our retired ministers who wrote a commentary, makes a really good application for us. He tells about a story. There is a young boy who grew up in a liberal church. The church didn't preach the gospel. Because he was willing to face the scorn of even his family, and his own grandmother, to travel across town to an evangelical church that believed in the fallibility and the authority of scripture, that emphasized discipleship and holiness. Because that's what God wanted him to be, because worship's primary, it's important. He was willing to be scorned. He was willing to humble himself, as it were, to lose a little bit of clout. This is the heart of a true worshiper, that God would be honored and praised before one's own honor. It's a struggle that all of you have to some degree. It's very liberating and freeing to live truly for God's glory. I was talking to a friend of mine, he was asking for some advice, he's in the army seeking counsel and prayer. He is in a situation where he's going to have to write a report that's very contradictory to the main philosophy of the army. He's writing from a Christian perspective on why soldiers have a hard time killing in combat. And he's going to say it's because people know, inherently, because they're made in the image of God, that they're killing another person. Killing a person is not the same thing as killing an animal. He's coming from a Christian perspective. And he knows he's probably not going to get promoted. He's probably not going to get promoted. And he's wrestling through it. He's wrestling through it. It's difficult because he wants to be honored and be like, hey, you're a smart guy and you're going to get promoted. But he knows he wants to speak the truth and honor God. We need to make sure our ducks are all in a row and the hardest path isn't always the right path. But are you willing to face scorn? To give God the praise and the honor before yourself? It's one of the things we learn here. One of the things we learn from David. He's willing to humble himself and give God the primary place. When God's people... When they worship God, it's a primary place in their heart. Worship is regulated to Scripture and it's joyfully conducted. Blessings follow. I want you to think about the principles of worship. What principle of worship do you need to meditate on? To think about? I want you to specifically return to the idea of blessing. I want you to be convinced that worship is a blessing to you. I want you to love God, I want you to love Jesus, and I want you to love His worship. I've told you before that I remember, and I'll tell you again, I remember having a conversation with a minister in the OPC, and he described his church as a church that loves to worship God. My congregation loves to worship God. Do you wait upon the Lord? Do you wait upon the blessing that's to be received in worship? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and how it guides our life. We pray for a right understanding of your word and all the principles and all the guidelines that affect us, that affect our understanding of salvation and the way that we should live. Tonight we think about worship. We ask that you would help us to understand these things, to believe them, to seek your honor, to worship you rightly and properly. Father, we pray that you would bless us We think of all the people who don't worship, all the churches that don't have an evening worship. We think about the difficulties and the other things that pull at us for our time. We pray that you would give us hearts to seek you, to hear you, to seek your face, knowing that you bless your people. Father, we pray that you would encourage us tonight build us up, give us strength for our week ahead. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen.